‘Much-loved’ bearded dragon stolen from Sheffield urban farm

A “much-loved” bearded dragon was stolen during a break-in at a Sheffield community farm.

CCTV footage shows two thieves breaking down a door at Heeley City Farm in the early hours of Saturday before smashing the lizard’s glass tank and stealing the reptile along with a donation box.

The farm is now appealing for help to trace the four-year-old bearded dragon, called Mushu, which is described as being a distinct red-orange colour.

Sarah Wild, Heeley City Farm chief executive officer, said: “We really try hard to do as much as we can for our local community and it’s just a bit sad that somebody would do this.”

According to the farm, the thieves were wearing puffer jackets and jogging bottoms during the break-in at about 03:00 BST.

The empty donation box was recovered from a park on Monday.

Ms Wild said the attraction had been left puzzled by the theft as she did not think the lizard was “worth a lot of money”.

“A situation like this costs us in additional staff time, it costs us in repairs, having to increase our security, our maintenance bills around the farm,” she said.

Three canaries were stolen in similar circumstances last year, the farm said.

The birds or culprits were never found, but canaries were later donated to the farm by local people.

“We do try and keep as much security as we can and we rely on a lot of goodwill and people respecting us in the community,” she said.

Anyone with information or relevant video footage have been asked to contact the farm or South Yorkshire Police.